


The Telvanni Guide to Alteration

by Zalphon



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 03:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16526153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zalphon/pseuds/Zalphon
Summary: A guide to Alteration by a Telvanni Spellwright.





	The Telvanni Guide to Alteration

** The Telvanni Guide to Alteration **

_ By Sakiran Maesa, Spellwright of House Telvanni _

I feel as though I left my readership with possible confusion regarding my last text when I made the assertion that the Restoration, Alteration, and Mysticism are related schools of magic and I would like to elaborate on that more fully before continuing and explaining what Alteration is. The Arcane Arts are divided into two primary categories by academics: Direct and Indirect Arts. 

 

This distinction is not based on the effects of the spell, but how the effects are produced. As I explained in the texts about Destruction, Illusion, and Conjuration, they all involve utilizing magicka to create an intended effect, but do not interface at all with the Aurbic Archives. This means that these are the Indirect Arts. Meanwhile, Restoration, Alteration, and Mysticism do require direct interface with the Aurbic Archives and consequently are the Direct Arts. 

 

This should not be misconstrued as devaluing the Indirect Arts, but they are as a whole a much simpler and more direct field than what you will see with the Direct Arts. One can easily witness ‘feel’ the stability of their gateway in their conjurations or ‘see’ the chemical structure of their magicka in the use of a destruction spell, but that is not the case when using Direct Arts. They require one of two things. You must either be willing to lower yourself to the use of pre-studied incantations and spells rather than your own research and talents or you must be willing to study the Aurbic Archives. Do not misinterpret my statement of studying the Aurbic Archives as being so mundane as reading a book and suddenly having an understanding, because all that can be derived from a text is a theoretical understanding. The only way to truly understand them is to experience them on a phenomenological level.

 

Entertain the following thought experiment. Assume that you have a child that was born in darkness. Its entire life has been spent in darkness, but you have regaled it with your accounts of what it is like to experience the sun’s warmth, as well have given him academic studies in regards to the sun. Can this child possibly know what it is like to feel the sun on its skin?

 

If you have even a modicum of understanding regarding epistemology, you will know that the only understanding it will have regarding the sun’s warmth is secondhand and that a great deal of the sensory experience will be lost in translation. This is what it is to study the Aurbic Archives from a text for anything beyond the foundational structure and role they play. I could describe to you in great detail what it is like to make love to a dreugh and to live within one of their aquatic cities, but to hear about it and to experience are two radically different understandings of the experience. It is for that reason that I encourage those of you with even a mild interest in the Direct Arts to take a sabbatical from your studies in order to experience the world in a more whole manner before attempting to tackle the Arcane Arts that deal with the world on its most fundamental level.

 

The reasoning for this is that before you can alter the metaphysical relationships of objects, you need to have an intimate understanding of their physical relationships. Mundus is a very delicate ecosystem and wanton use of the Direct Arts, especially Alteration, can result in a great many meteorological catastrophes as well as other disturbances which will likely create havoc across Nirn, and more important, disrupt my research. Do not begin your studies of this school except for the incantations provided for you by learned scholars until you have taken that sabbatical or you will be a danger both to yourself and others.

 

Now that I have resolved that misunderstanding and elaborated further, I feel it is time to discuss what Alteration itself is now. As I discussed, Restoration does not actually cure the ailment; it replaces it. Alteration has some similarities in how it is accessed (they are both accessed by interfacing with the Aurbic Archives), but differs in that it does not actually replace the object in question. Alteration unsurprisingly gets its name that it alters things, but there is a gross misunderstanding of just to what degree it can alter things. The typical adventure studies it to learn how to unlock doors or perhaps create magical shields to protect themselves, but they do not understand just how this works.

The usage of Alteration to unlock (or lock) objects requires interfacing with the Aurbic Archives and finding the unique ID affixed the object in question. Then one modifies one of the variables (these are typically things such as size, shape, color, touch, material, etc.) tied to the object. The variable in question is the existence of a lock.

 

Spells that unlock the object pull the lock back into the door and transmogrify it into wood. Spells that lock the object do the opposite. This is a result of interfacing with the Aurbic Archives and modifying the Lock Value of the object in question. Once the Lock Value is changed in the Aurbic Archives, reality alters itself to match. 

 

How let us examine things such as Shield spells which I have always found interesting. These spells do not create any real magical armor, but create an invisible threshold that slows the impact of anything coming past it. There has been a good deal of discussion in regards to what causes this effect and the general conclusion agreed upon by both the House and the Imperial Mages’ Guild is that these spells have a chronomantic effect, although their effects are created by modifying the Armor Value of the subject in question. This is an interesting thing and I find these spells to be exceptionally useful (having been saved by them more than once).

 

Now let us look at effects of Alteration that we do not frequently see anymore in no small part due to the banning by the Imperial Mages’ Guild (which I typically disagree with, but this is one instance in which I do). If one is willing to go spelunking into caves already picked clean by the adventurers of the early days of Uriel Septim VII’s reign and prior, you can see where entire walls were simply removed from existence. These spells were known as Passwall in their day and were created by accessing the Aurbic Archives and removing the wall tile in question, which reality altered itself to match. The reason for this banning was due to the increase in geologic unrest throughout large parts of unsettled territory, because the typical practitioner of these spells was the thoughtless adventurer who did not do his research before simply reconstructing reality. Several villages have been swallowed sinkholes created by these spells which prompted their ban by the Imperial Mages’ Guild. It is one of the few times in which I find myself in agreement with the Westerners.

 

Now, I could elaborate further on all the different effects of Alteration, but what is important is that you have been given the rudimentary understanding necessary to understand how Alteration works on the back-end. For those of you interested in developing a further understanding of the field, I am looking for a new apprentice after the untimely demise of the last one (who believed himself to have a better understanding of the School than he did). If you feel you are worthy, then bring me a bouquet of Coda Flowers and a sack of Racer Plumes and I will consider your request for my mentorship. 


End file.
